The Cuao Massif or Cuao-Sipapo Massif is a complex of

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a member of a family of table-top mountains or mesas found in northern South America, especially in Venezuela, western Guyana, and northern Brazil. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the ...

s (table-top mountain) in southern Amazonas state of

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. It includes several small sandstone tepuis and granitic mountaintops, including Cerro Cuao and Cerro Sipapo, which reach elevations between 1,400 and 2,000 meters. The massif is westernmost of the Western Pantepui District, which lies east of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

, southwest of the Caura River, and north of the

Ventuari River The Ventuari River is the largest tributary of the Orinoco in southern Venezuela. The Ventuari flows from south-central Venezuela in the Guiana Highlands southwest into the Orinoco River. It is long and its major tributary is the Manapiare River ...

.McDiarmid, Roy W. and Donnelly, Maureen A. 2005. "The herpetofauna of the Guayana Highlands: amphibians and reptiles of the Lost World" In ''Ecology and evolution in the tropics: a herpetological perspective''. Donnelly, Maureen A., Crother, Brian I., Guyer, Craig, Wake, Marvalee H., and White, Mary E., editors. 461–560. University of Chicago Press. Tepuis are isolated flat-topped sandstone mountains with a montane flora and fauna distinct from the surrounding lowlands. Habitats in the massif include wet meadows, high-tepui shrub, and open rock habitats. Cuao Massif is home to many tepui-endemic species animals and plants. The massif is within Macizo Cuao-Sipapo y Cerro Moriche Natural Monument, which was established in 1990 and covers an area of 3150.55 km². It is also within the Sipapo Reserve Forest, which covers an area of 12155.0 km² and includes both highlands and lowlands extending west to the Orinoco.

References

{{Tepuis, Venezuela Tepuis of Venezuela Geography of Amazonas (Venezuelan state)